Methinks you worry too much!! :-)) ...

I made a decision in 1978 to buy an LP12. Since then, I've been very happy with a) the sound it makes and b) the fact that every few years, I can make it sound better by installing the latest upgrade which Linn have come out with (a much easier and less stressful process IMO - to say nothing of less expensive - than getting rid of it and buying a new TT). So the LP12 I have now is very different to the one I originally bought.

From this you might gather that I don't hold with the concept that the only good LP12 is pre-Valhalla and pre-Cirkus ... also, while the Grace tonearm was a great arm for its time, it has now been well and truly overtaken by the likes of the Graham 2.2.

And if you've upgraded your LP12 with Cirkus, Lingo etc. then IMO you have certainly *not* gone backwards! :-))

Yes, many people over the years have harped on the deficiences of the LP12 - and there certainly have been some! However, with the advent of rigidly-connected subchassis/armboard combos (in either the Keel, TFF or my CFTech incarnations), a substantial leap forward in terms of retrieval of low-level detail has been achieved. So an LP12 equipped with one of these IMO is in a different league to an LP12 with a pressed-steel subchassis.

The rigid coupling between armboard and subchassis corrects a serious deficiency of the original design, IMO ... however, this is only possible by making the subchassis from a material which doesn't exhibit the vibrational problems of the pressed-steel subchassis. Linn used aluminium ... the original Cetech (produced in about 2000), TFF's and the CFTech use CF-composite, because it is very light and very stiff.

IMO, the only remaining deficiency is the "wandering tone" when listening to piano, compared to the rock-solid presentation delivered by the top DD or idler TTs! :-))

risabet has already posted that piano tone "firmed up" with his motor-at-the-7-o'clock-position mod but whether any more improvement can be gained in this regard from a belt drive system, I suggest is still open to conjecture. But still, since Linn has just thrown out one of the long-held "magic secrets" of the LP12 (the "floating armboard") with the rigidly-connected Keel, I suggest we will be able to accept another about-turn if Linn ever got rid of belt drive! :-))

Regards,

Andy

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